Pins

Lots and lots of people used to collect these pins in the sixties and seventies. My parents did too. They threw out a lot of them but kept the one they liked or had memories of. At flea markets it's quite easy to find a whole bunch of these. I must admit, I always hestitate when I go past them, but I never buy them. Eventhough they look very collectible.

Heritage of Timur Lenk

My friend and colleague Agreeth designed this book for Ben Vroom, who was in Uzbekistan for 4 months. She used beautiful printing and binding techniques to design this book. The cover looks simple but has a beautiful embossing. When you flick through the book quickly it looks as though there are no pictures in it. But look closely and you discover that the pages can be opened and new spreads appear with wonderfully colour pictures. The typography is elegant and the choice of paper is excellent. Really nice job!

Travelling in and around London

London Transport has always been my fascination. Back in Art College it wrote my thesis about the London Underground; the map and the way signing. I consider the London Underground Map one of the best graphic design pieces ever and I love the London Transport corporate identity (the logo, the colours and the type face). I bought these maps and leaflets in St. Ives when we were there on holiday, a long time ago. I remember I was over the moon when I found these. They're all from the early seventies. Vintage, I'd say.

Ariadne's thread

Old magazines are always great, but these are fantastic: old DIY projects, patterns for knitting, for embroidery etc. The advertising is nice as well, meant for the 'modern' housewife. Ariadne is a magazine title evolved into Ariadne at home. It is now a magazine about interior decoration.

Are you a rose expert

After reading this booklet you might be!

More wood type

I found some more wooden printer blocks, I bought these online. I love them and I'm always on the look out for more. Hopefully, one day, I'll have enough of these to fill a big frame!

Back home

We spent Easter weekend at my parents house in Zeeland. I took a few pictures I want to share, such as these. I took them last Saturday in one of my favorite thriftshops. The shop is called De Stoof and is located in Zaamslag in an old church (unfortunately the shop doesn't have a website). Quite a few items from my 'private collection' are bought in that shop. Last Saturday I bought a stack of vintage games, I'll post those another time, so come back for more!

1984

Pocket edition from 1956.

Christmas in 1949

This is the 1949 Christmas issue of the Drukkersweekblad (printer's magazine, published by the Dutch printers' organisation). The aim of these special Christmas issues was to show a yearly survey of the technical and aesthetic standards and of the progressive development in printing tchniques.

The cover was designed by Dick Elffers.

Willem Sandberg

One of my most favorite Dutch graphic designers (pre computer age) is Willem Sandberg (1897-1984). He was a typographer and museum curator. From 1937 -1941 he was the curator of modern art at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. After the Second World War, he became the director of the Stedelijk Museum until his retirement in 1962. During his tenure he expanded the museum and developed new exhibition techniques, for which he gained international renown. He applied his graphic design and typography skills to over 300 catalogues.